which card is the best for racking up airline miles?? I have no loyalty to any carrier. but I do love Southwest.
Thanks.
You have to know how many miles you will build up.
The no annual fee cards often only give you a half mile per dollar.
Or, you can pay an annual fee and get one mile per dollar.
You’ll need anywhere from 25,000 to 50,000 points to get a round trip ticket.
What I generally do is sign up for the card that gives the most introductory points. Use that for as long as possible and then cancel it before the annual fee comes due.
You can only do that once per airline or hotel chain. So I’ve been cycling through American, Holiday Inn, Marriott and am about to move to US Air.
Or, you can sign up for cards that give you 1% cash back and then use that cash to purchase airline tickets or hotel stays.
You would be far better off getting an American Express card with Membership miles. You can buy airline tickets with the miles on most carriers, use it for hotels, buy merchandise. It is the best deal out there.
I have been on a cruise, bought a cappucino machine, built a shed with materials bought from Home Depot and more all with my Membership miles. Granted I rack up the miles for business but it is still a great deal and far more flexible than any one carrier.
I’m fairly certain we get 2 miles per dollar spent with our Capital One miles card. The miles are good for most, if not all, airlines. There is also no annual fee.
We had a card for United, but it got taken over by Chase and they f–cked us around a bit so we got rid of it.
I read somewhere that churning through credit cards like that can lower your credit score. I’m not sure if that’s true, but it’s something to keep in mind since credit scores can affect how much you pay in interest on a loan (mortgage, car, etc.).
Here is an interesting article. http://money.cnn.com/2006/03/31/pf/goodlife_fortune_travel/index.htm
good article. sounds like they don’t like the airline CC’s at all.
so what is the best rewards card??
Not sure which card is best but we have a little trick that doubles our miles.
We make most of our purchases with a united visa and then pay the visa bill with our delta amex.
How do you pay a cc bill with a cc?
I’ve got a US Airways card that I’m using to get miles . My parents have the American Express card that you can transfer miles to just about any airline. They also have an American Airlines card.
domestic flights are 25,000 points
hawaii flights are 35,000 points
europe is 40-60,000 points depending on deals
Australia/New Zealand is 50-60,000 points
Hate me if you want, but I think that if you use your airline miles for anything else but flights, you have just wasted the points. Think about it, for 25,000 points you can rummage through the catalog and pick out a putter or a watch or for those 25,000 points you can fly across the US. It’d be in your best interest to save those miles and take a trip somewhere.
My parents haven’t paid for a flight in about 6-7 years. That includes 4 trips for 2 to New York, 3 trips for 2 to San Francisco, 1 trip for 4 to Europe, and about 14-15 flights to hawaii. I think the only large spending was a college tuition for 2 or 3 years. Beyond that it’s just the usually stuff; bills, groceries, etc.
I’m quite happy with my Continental (Chase) Visa. I actually use it more than my Amex Rewards card. Basically, you accrue miles-per-dollar just like the Amex but with the Continental card, you get double air miles on top of that if you use it to purchase a Continental flight. Works well since I fly Continental out of Newark all the time.
You can transfer your balance from one credit card when you sign up for another credit card…why couldn’t you pay one credit card with another? Any credit card company would LOVE to have you put a balance onto their card, regardless of the source.